The Walk

Heads up: Our top pick of the week, The Walk has been getting stellar reviews, especially for JGL‘s lead performance and for being whimsical in every way a good Zemeckis film is (remember Polar Express?). This is also one of the rare occasions when we recommend seeing the movie in 3D, preferably at the new Laser IMAX at VOX @ Mall of the Emirates.

Black Mass

Heads up: As a crime-drama based on a notorious real-life gangster, there’s much appeal for the movie — a stellar cast, an underrated director and an intriguing trailer. But most significantly, Faizan Rashid in his 3½ star review says of the movie: “Black Mass provides Johnny Depp his meatiest roles in years, even if the film can’t help feel familiar“.

Straight Outta Campton

Heads up: For a movie that has scored so high on the Tomatometer (90%) and done very well at the US box office too, recommending this movie is a no-brainer. Based on hip-hop cultural revolution brought about by Ice Cube, Dr Dre and friends in the 80s, expect a movie squarely aimed for adults (heavy profanity included) but also one that has been snipped by the local censors.

Man Up

Directed by: Ben PalmerWith: Simon Pegg, Lake Bell, and Rory Kinnear.

Heads up: Surprise, surprise! Despite the generic looking poster and premise (A single woman who’s mistaken for a stranger’s blind date, leads to her finding the perfect boyfriend), the movie has positive reviews, which makes it the date-movie of the weekend! Stars Simon Pegg, so watch or not if you like him or not.

Knock Knock

Heads up:Eli Roth works well within the torture-horror genre. This is a home-invasion movie, but with Keanu Reeves cast against type as the hapless victim. Though the trailer sets up the movie to be a fun romp, critics haven’t been kind. But don’t let that turn you away — genre fans know better that to even bother with reviews for the kind of movie this is.

Talvar

Heads up: Based on 2008’s Noida double murder case, this is a Vishal Bharadwaj production, written solely by the man himself and directed by Meghna Gulzar. As expected, the movie has great reviews from India and from it’s Toronto Film Festival screening. So watch it, if not for the story, writing and reviews then for its excellent cast: Irrfan Khan, Neeraj Kabi, Konkona Sen.

Singh is Bling

Heads up: Bollywood has its fans. And they are usually unreasonable in their love for some stars. Akshay Kumar is one such star who has a following. No reason anyone else should bother, unless the movie turns out to be a surprise (in which case we’ll be as surprised as any non-Akshay fan).

About Shariq Madani

Shariq is a social, talkative, fun-loving guy who enjoys books, food and a long drive. But his real joy is in the comfortable darkness of a cinema, watching a good movie, and later spending hours discussing it.